A Game of Thornes – sostų karai / the challenge of 100 pages

Asta Skujytė was one of those who only found out about the ‘‘The Song of Ice and Fire‘‘ series
written by George R.R Martin after HBO created the series in the same way as the first book
called Game of Thrones. She states that watching the series made her want to know how things
go in books. Moreover, the translation of the first book into Lithuanian was just a beginning and
she decided to purchase and read all of them in the original language. However, Asta was not
satisfied with the translation work of the Rasa Tapiniene.
It is said that Rasa Tapiniene experienced most difficulties in translating place names and
personal names. This book stands out by an abundance of characters and the fact that G. R. R.
Martin introduce us with his created world – the Seven Kingdoms, therefore a large part of the
work had to be spent trying to translate toponyms, hydronyms into Lithuanian accurate as
possible. Asta Skujyte declares that some of the names and places are translated correctly, for
example Laivadūžių įlanka (Shipbreaker Bay) or translated literally, Užšalęs krantas (The Frozen
Shore), Lietaus miškas (Rainwood). Although, a large number of toponyms are simply translated
like Vinterfelas (Winterfell), Riveranas (Riverrun), Haigardenas (Highgarden). All hydronyms
are translated but there are ambiguities. The fact that the most fertile land in the Westeros which
is a huge valley translated as a bend.
One of the characters of the book Tyrion Lannister remembers his encounter with the skulls of
dragons and the story of one of his ancestors trying to fight these creatures: „Tolimas jo protėvis,
karalius Lorenas iš Roko, mėgino atremti šią ugnį, kai prisijungė prie karaliaus Merno iš Ryčo,
priešindamasis Targeirinų užkariavimui." Originaly: „His own remote ancestor, King Loren of
the Rock, had tried to stand against the fire when he joined with King Mern of the Reach to
oppose the Targaryen conquest". The translator forgot that ‘’the reach’’ she had translated as a
‘’Vingis’’ and ‘’Casterly rock’’ (sometimes abbreviated as rock) translated as a ‘’Kasterli Uola’’.
Another aspect that draw Asta’s attention was translations of the character names in the book.
For example, Jon Snow was translated as Džonas Snou. If the translator had followed the same
principles when translating the name of the other character Jorah Mormonto it could be Jora but
in this case ‘’j’’ turns into the English ‘’dz’’ simply Dzora. This shows the lack of a system for
translating names.
Also, translations of terminology by G. G. R. Martin seem problematic, for example: Vienas iš
juodųjų brolių taria: „Turime grįžti (...). Vaildlingai negyvi" The mysterious Wildlings are
simply translated as Vaildlingai which means that it has been translated in the easiest way.
Moreover, how do you name the people who live beyond the Wall and harm the people of the
Seven Kingdoms? The word wildling consists of two parts: the word wild, meaning wild, and the
suffix -ling, which has a derogatory meaning (e.g., manling - zmogelis).
In the translations of phraseology were some inaccuracies. The sentence „(...) tačiau Tyrionas su
Džeimiu nebuvo panašūs lyg du žirniai ankštyje" originally „(...) but then Jamie and Tyrion were
somewhat less than peas in a pod themselves" Asta states that the real equivalent of this
expression should be „panašūs kaip du vandens lašai".
An inaccurate translation of prepositions can change the meaning of a sentence or make it
difficult to understand. For example „Pro juos šlamėjo šalnos pakąsti lapai; Roiso eržilas
neramiai muistėsi", the sentence is much clearer when reading the original „Frost-fallen leaves
whispered past them, and Royce's destrier moved restlessly" in this case preposition past means
‘’uz’’ perhaps it should be translated as „Už jų šlamėjo šalnos pakąsti lapai" this would be much
more logical.
To sum up, Asta emphasizes that the first book in the series ‘’Songs of Ice and Fire’’ had a lot of
discrepancies and hopes that in the future there will be fewer translation mistakes.